God Is My Refuge

"Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us." (Psalm 62:8)

Do you ever need a refuge? A refuge is a place where you go to be safe, a place where you can be free from danger and fear. Everyone is afraid at times. You might feel fearful when you're alone or when you're in bed at night with darkness all around. Sometimes you might worry that something bad will happen to your mom or dad. Sometimes you're afraid because you know you've done something wrong  even if you haven't been caught yet.

God wants to be your refuge at those times. He tells you to pour out your heart to Him. Does that mean you need to use just the right words when you pray? Should you try to pretend you're a brave, good person who doesn't really need His help? Pouring out your heart means telling Him exactly how you feel  because He already knows. Tell Him you feel afraid, or tell Him you know you've sinned and need His forgiveness. He is greater than anything that you fear. And He cares for you.

God wants to be a refuge for me when I am afraid.

My Response:» Am I keeping fear or sin in my heart instead of pouring it out to God?

Hudson Taylor

“God isn’t looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him.”

One half of a prayer request was answered on May 21, 1832, when James Hudson Taylor was born. Prior to his birth, his parents had prayed, “God, if You should give us a son, grant that he may work for You in China.” God gave Mr. and Mrs. Taylor a son, but would he ever go to China?

As a young boy, Taylor learned about China from his father who read him stories from a family book. He decided he wanted to live overseas someday, but China was a long way from his home and from his parents in England.

At age 17 – after a brief time of teenage rebellion – Hudson Taylor trusted in Jesus Christ to be His Lord and Savior. He went on to study banking and medicine, but he found no satisfaction in these career paths. Could it be that God really did want him to go to China?

Taylor eventually embraced what he came to believe was God’s call on his life; and in 1853, he began his six-month voyage to Shanghai, China. During his 51 years on the mission field, he became the most widely-used missionary in the entire country. His goal was to make sure every province in China heard the Gospel. Over time, God used Hudson Taylor and the ministries he began to bring over 35,000 people to Himself.

He often said, “If I had 1,000 lives, I’d give them all for China.”

We joke about cats having nine lives, but what if it were true that we could have more than 1, or 9? or if we could really have 1,000 lives to live on Earth? If you had 1,000 lives, how would you spend them? Would you play extreme sports (since if you were hurt, you would know you’d always have another chance)? Would you be lazy (knowing you would have plenty of time to work hard later on)?

The truth is, each of us will have only one life to live. What will you do with yours? Would you willingly devote every day and hour and minute to God’s glory and spreading the Gospel of Jesus?

Psalm 16:11 – You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Description of God

The Judge of All the EarthGenesis 18:25 "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Question & Answer

Of what was the apostle Paul fully persuaded?

Romans 8:38-39 – For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

BIG Christian Word

Justification - (jus'ta-fa-ka'shun)

Justification is an act done in an instant by God in which he 1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us and 2) declares us to be righteous in his sight. Justification is just as if we never sinned. We are declared not guilty. It is the opposite of condemnation when a person is declared guilty. (Romans 5:1) "Therefore being justified, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.